This invention relates to postage meters and in particular to methods and apparatus for forming franking indicia on items.
Known postage meters for franking mail items include accounting means to carry out accounting functions in respect of postage charges dispensed by the meter and a printer to print a franking impression on each mail item to indicate that a postage charge has been applied to the item and has been charged to the account of the user of the postage meter. Earlier postage meters incorporated a drum printer to print the franking impression. The drum printer comprises a rotatable print drum carrying a fixed printing die to print invariable parts of the impression sets of print wheels which are set to print a required value of postage charge and the date on which the printing effected. In more recent developments of postage meters the rotatable print drum has been replaced by electronic digital printing devices. These digital printing devices comprise means to print dots selectively in a matrix of positions on the mail item so as to form a required impression.